Hershey 3, WBS 1 2/16

The WBS Penguins played their best game of the weekend Sunday. Which, given their decisive losses on Friday and Saturday, is like being the best cross-country skiier in Nepal. Not all that impressive.

On Friday and Saturday, the Penguins took a bunch of penalties, especially early, and committed big, ugly turnovers that ended up in the back of their net. None of that tonight. Neither team made many mistakes in the first two periods.

Hershey got the all-important first goal, though, on a Casey Wellman shot from the point that changed directions twice midway through the third period, and the Bears never trailed.

Brian Gibbons scored on a shorthanded breakaway with 4:03 left to make it 2-1, but Hershey killed that rally with a Peter LeBlanc goal 49 seconds later, and the Penguins were left to digest an 0-3 weekend.

The Penguins have played three games in three days 27 times since John Hynes took over as coach in 2010. This is just the second 0-3 weekend.

If you’re a Penguins fan looking for a silver lining tonight, I’ve got one for you. After the last 0-3 weekend, in October of last season, the Penguins went 13-3 in their next 16 games.

Am I predicting that this time? No. While the Penguins played better tonight, they still look out of whack in the defensive zone — I don’t know how many times I’ve written about an opposing player getting a step on a Penguins defender and scoring this weekend, but it was more than once — and the transition game is still misfiring. Plus, Binghamton is coming to town Wednesday and that’s no team to get well against.

I’m not predicting a second-half tailspin or anything either. I’m just saying I think it’s going to take more than a decent effort in a loss tonight to turn things around. Still some work to do.

On the personnel side, Hynes is trying some things. Harry Zolnierczyk and Anton Zlobin were healthy scratches tonight. “There are certain things we want in our team and a certain way we want to play and we felt like we were in a little bit of a rut this weekend and we had fresh bodies,” Hynes said.

#21 looks like a train wreck. whenever he has the puck deep in the d zone, you see the opposing forwards close on him like wolves on a sheep. surely he’ll progress in time, but it should be time in Wheeling, not WB. there are other D-men out there

A winner of first-place honors in the blogging category of the 2012 Pennsylvania Associated Press Managing Editors awards, Penguins Insider was created to give local hockey fans an interactive, in-depth way to follow the team they so passionately support. The blog's author, beat writer Jonathan Bombulie, has been covering the team since its inception in 1999. Contact him at jbombulie@aol.com

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